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I-10 widening project to affect motorists between Baton Rouge and New Orleans

(WWL.com) - A major road construction project on I-10 will affect travelers between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Thursday afternoon for the project which will expand an over six mile stretch from four to six lanes from south of Baton Rouge to Highway LA-73 near Prairieville. DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson says this project won’t be completed until sometime in 2020.

"It's going to take a little over two years to get done. Instead of going all the way to LA-73, they're going to break it up in segments. So we think that may offer a little less frustration and congestion for drivers."

With 95-thousand drivers passing over that section of the road, Wilson says it is imperative that the flow of traffic continues through the construction zone as smoothly as possible.

"We're always going to maintain two lanes of traffic except for some very unique circumstances maybe at bridges on a temporary basis, where they'll have to narrow it to one lane."

The 72-million-dollar expansion comes from some repurposed earmarked funds from projects that either never happened or from leftover funds. Wilson says the majority of the money is due to the farsightedness of the Edwards Administration.

"We had some dollars that we were able to repurpose as the result of a Fast Lane grant that Governor John Bel Edwards and I applied for very early in this administration."

Wilson reminds drivers to check 511la.org and to download the phone app for when you are on the go.